Friday, February 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Ed!

Celebrating a birthday today is Irish Fest president Ed Follis who turns 73 years young. Ed, like all of the directors, will honor the day by dragging his arse out of bed at this ungodly hour to make our usual 7:00 A.M. board meeting.

Ed, as you know, became president of the Kansas City festival with the turning of the calendar year, but in a broader sense he's been our leader since the very beginning. For more than any of us, Irish Fest is Ed's baby. It was Ed who back in 1998 had that spark of an idea: what if we put on a festival? And what a festival it's become. From those first years in a Brookside neighborhood parking lot to 100,000 people at Crown Center. And there's not a truer statement than this: without the vision, leadership and, to use an old Irish word, chutzpah of Ed Follis, there is no Kansas City Irish Fest as we know it today.

Happy birthday, Ed! And many, many more.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll drink to that! Happy Birthday Ed!

CTG

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Ed!
That is a nice hat. Perhaps they should consider selling those with the festival logo. I can see everyone wanting a hat like that.

Wow 7:00AM that is really early, I was still in bed at that hour.

Ed Scanlon

Anonymous said...

Cheers to you Ed. Maureen

Anonymous said...

Congrats Ed, have a happy birthday.
Barbara

Anonymous said...

That's a very fancy hat. Happy Birthday Ed!

-Sarah W